Emmanuel Macron evokes a tax on streaming to support the music industry
The French cultural exception has a cost, and if the players in the music industry fail to agree, the government is ready to resort to taxes to find new funding.…
Emmanuel Macron evokes a tax on streaming to support the music industry
The French cultural exception has a cost, and if the players in the music industry fail to agree, the government is ready to resort to taxes to find new funding. On this music day, Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to set up a “compulsory contribution from streaming platforms”.
The Head of State asked Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak to bring together “without delay all the players in the sector”, writes the Elysée in a press release. If there is no agreement by September 30, “the government will reserve the possibility of seize the Parliament” to vote this tax.
Supporting parliamentary report
The presidency relies on a report by Senator Julien Bargeton (Renaissance) , delivered in April. The latter recommends a tax of 1.75% on income from paid music streaming and free music streaming financed by advertising.
New sources of funding are needed to “preserve French cultural sovereignty” and ensure “ fair compensation for artists and creators “, underlined the Elysée. Emmanuel Macron also wants this windfall to support “innovation and export”.
Former Culture Minister Jack Lang quickly welcomed the idea of such a tax in a press release sent to AFP. According to him, it is “a measure of justice that will strengthen musical diversity and strengthen independent creators and musicians”.
The divided sector faced with the prospect of a tax
In autumn 2022, the debates had crystallized on a compulsory contribution of 1.5% revenue from paid subscriptions on music platforms for help the National Music Center (CNM) , a state and sectoral body created in 2020, to support French creation. This suggestion – carried by deputies from the Nupes left via amendments rejected at the end of 2022 – had divided the sector.
Several organizations representing the music industry (Prodiss, UPFI, SMA, etc.) said they were in favor of such a low tax “which could be enough to complete the CNM financing scheme without disrupting economic models”. .
“No to the streaming tax. Anti-rap tax. Racist tax. Tax not justified “, on the other hand, had denounced on his social networks the rapper Niska, calculating that the income from the streaming of rap, music dominant in the charts, would thus be taxed. The SNEP (National Union of Phonographic Publishing) had also castigated the idea of a tax.
With AFP
